The present invention relates to a concealed sun visor and, more particularly, to a concealed sun visor including a light filter that can be pulled out of the sun visor to shield light for enhancing the driving safety and that can be stored in the sun visor to provide an aesthetic appearance.
FIG. 1 shows a dashboard C in an interior space I of a vehicle. The driver sitting behind the steering wheel SW can be aware of the traffic conditions behind the vehicle through the rearview mirror RM and the two side view mirrors SM. When encountering light incident through the windshield FW, the driver generally moves the sun visor 10 to a position blocking the light. However, the conventional sun visor 10 is not transmittable to light and, thus, should not be too large to adversely affect the driving safety. It is therefore always a problem to effectively block the light by troublesome adjustment of the position of the sun visor 10 while trying not to adversely affect the driving safety.
In an approach to fulfill the need of improving driving safety while effectively filtering light encountered in the conventional sun visors not transmittable to light, a light-transmittable light filter is clipped to the sun visor. When encountering light, the driver can pivot the light filter at a side of the sun visor downward to shield the eyes from the light, increasing the driving safety. However, the light filter clipped to the sun visor is visually protrusive and would block a make-up mirror and a night lamp, if any, disposed on the sun visor.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,662,371 discloses a sun visor light reducer extension having a three-sided rigid frame capable of being incorporated within a vehicle's sun visor. A light filter is received in a groove defined by the rigid frame and has a pair of guide stops protruding slightly upward from its surface. An elastic urging member is disposed between two pivoted leg segments of the rigid frame. Each leg segment has a stopping tab extending inward. The stopping tabs act as a stopping means during discharge of the light filter by forming a barrier when impinged against the guide stops. However, the resultant structure has a significant thickness and, thus, limits its practical utility. Furthermore, the guide stops can only prevent the light filter from falling out of the sun visor. Namely, there are no mechanisms for precisely positioning the light filter, such that the light filter might slide downward. Thus, the practical use of the sun visor light reducer extension would be unsatisfactory.